I wish to express sincere appreciation for the leadership of the United Kingdom in convening this Open Debate on “Promoting Implementation of Security Council Resolutions on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.”
I warmly welcome the civil society briefers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar. As ever, the lived experience of survivors such as Nadine and advocates like Naw Hser Hser must shape global solutions. Survivors are the ‘moral compass’ of this mandate. To highlight survivors’ voices the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network, which I chair, comprising 24 UN entities, has organized an exhibition titled: A Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivor’s Journey. I welcome all here today to visit the exhibition in the Visitor’s Lobby during the course of the day.
Distinguished Members of the Security Council, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We meet today as the trendlines for conflict-related sexual violence are worsening. The world is facing the highest number of conflicts since World War II, while the number of people forced to flee their homes has reached a first-ever record of 110 million. Rising militarization and arms proliferation are bringing conflicts across the globe to boiling point, creating the conditions for unimaginable and unrelenting cruelty. Gang rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence are being used as a tactic of war, torture, and terrorism, to subjugate and displace populations. In this time of unprecedented global turbulence new threats have emerged from the largely ungoverned digital space. Climate-related insecurity and displacement have exacerbated competition for scarce resources, in turn increasing intercommunal violence, including sexual violence.
Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced and least condemned crime. And yet, the promise expressed by the Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, focusing on conflict-related sexual violence, is prevention. They represent a commitment to bring all tools to bear to break the seemingly endless cycles of sexual violence, impunity and revenge. Even as this Council meets once again to take up this issue, violations continue to shatter lives and livelihoods, destabilize communities and displace hundreds of thousands around the world. The singular focus of this Council must be to bridge the gap between resolutions and realities, between our highest aspirations and operations on the ground.
Excellencies,
The report of the Secretary-General before us today provides a global snapshot of the patterns and trends of conflict-related sexual violence across 20 situations of concern. It records 2455 UN-verified cases of CRSV committed in the course of 2022. Women and girls account for 94% of the verified cases, with 6% of reported violations being against men and boys. Children represent 32% of the verified incidents, with girls making up 97%, a vast majority of these cases.
Yet, while the report conveys the severity and brutality of verified incidents, it does not purport to reflect the global scale or prevalence of this chronically underreported and historically hidden crime. We know that for every woman who comes forward, many more are silenced by social pressures, stigma, insecurity and the paucity of services.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is once again the country presenting the highest number of cases with 701 violations of conflict-related sexual violence verified through the rigorous methodology under the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1960. In addition, United Nations humanitarian service providers reported more than 38,000 cases of sexual and gender-based violence in 2022, in North Kivu alone, including alarming levels of sexual exploitation of children at more than 1,000 sites in and around displacement camps.
Against this backdrop, I felt compelled to visit the DRC in June to assess the situation first-hand. I was horrified by the testimonies I heard from women and girls, many of whom had been very recently raped and/or gang raped and were still receiving treatment. Some of them were completely disoriented and in a near catatonic state due to the severity of trauma.
So many of them stressed the daily risk of sexual violence while carrying out livelihood activities around the camps, such as searching for food, collecting wood or water. Just imagine facing the reality each day that you are likely to be raped, yet having no choice but to take that risk because your family must survive. These women and girls face the unacceptable choice between economic subsistence and sexual violence, between their livelihoods and their lives. Therefore, we cannot underestimate how food insecurity increases the risk of exposure to sexual violence, and how the nexus of conflict and hunger are linked in complex spirals of cause and effect.
Another very disturbing reality is the proliferation of brothels or so called “maisons de tolerance” inside and around the IDP camps, operating in broad daylight and under the very noses of national authorities and humanitarian actors. Sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution as a basic means of survival (sometimes referred to as “survival sex”), is rampant. This is sexual violence driven by economic desperation where women and girls are compelled to prostitute themselves for less than a dollar in order to survive another day. It is inconceivable that instead of ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual violence, we are seeing “houses of tolerance”.
My first field visit in 2022, was to Ukraine, following the surfacing of reports of sexual violence after the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation. I was struck not only by the occurrence of sexual violence in conflict zones, but also by the acute vulnerability of millions of women and children forced to flee the country in a matter of weeks and months of the conflict. When I visited reception centers in Poland and Moldova, I witnessed first-hand the extraordinary toll on women, children and the elderly, including their vulnerability to unscrupulous individuals and criminal networks for whom the rapid and unprecedented mass displacement of people is not a tragedy but an opportunity for trafficking and sexual exploitation. This March, when I returned to Ukraine, I met with survivors and heard their heart-wrenching accounts of brutal sexual violence reportedly perpetrated by Russian soldiers. I take this opportunity to reiterate the Secretary-General’s call on the Russian authorities to undertake prevention measures in line with the resolutions of this Council. At the same time, I am encouraged by the commitments made by the Ukrainian government, articulated in a Framework of Cooperation that I signed with Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna in May 2022. Since then, my Office and the UN system have been supporting the national authorities to implement a comprehensive plan of action that includes addressing cross-border dimensions of trafficking.
Animating the trendlines in the report before you are the harrowing personal experiences that speak to the devastating human cost of sexual violence:
- In Haiti, after having witnessed the execution of their husbands, victims were raped by gang members in front of their children,. Many victims were forced out of vehicles at gunpoint, robbed, and subjected to collective rape in broad daylight.
- In the Central African Republic, a woman was gang-raped to death by members of an armed group who accused her of having a relationship with a member of the national armed forces.
- In Ethiopia, many survivors have contracted HIV due to rape, and now face a lifetime of stigma and health challenges.
- In Iraq, among the female Yazidi survivors who returned from Da’esh captivity, more than 430 remain in displacement sites grappling with significant mental health and socioeconomic challenges. Children born of rape are still unable to obtain birth registration and identity documents, as Iraqi law requires proof of paternity.
The annual report clearly demonstrates the emboldening effects of impunity. The reality is that until we effectively raise the cost and consequences for committing, commanding or condoning sexual violence, we will never stem the tide of such violations.
This year 49 parties, most of them non-state actors, are listed for systematically committing sexual violence. Over 70 per cent are persistent perpetrators, having appeared on the list for five or more years without taking remedial or corrective action. It is critical to ensure greater coherence between the Secretary-General’s listing and the targeted and graduated measures being imposed by United Nations sanctions committees. If applied in a timely and consistent manner, sanctions can change the calculus of parties that operate on the assumption that rape is “cost-free” – or even profitable– in the political economy of war in which women are trafficked, traded and sold.
The report also identifies several emerging issues which exacerbated long-standing challenges to reporting and response. For instance, inflammatory rhetoric against UN Peacekeepers, including violent demonstrations, narrow the operating space for service delivery and verification of allegations. Nonetheless, nearly 70 per cent of UN-verified cases were reported in the eight peacekeeping and special political missions where Women’s Protection Advisers were deployed. While data is not a prerequisite for response, the Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Arrangements convened by Women’s Protection Advisers, are essential to building the evidence-base to scale-up interventions.
Globally, women human rights defenders, including those advocating on behalf of victims of sexual violence, have been targeted with attacks aimed at stemming their activism. Patterns of sexual violence continued to be used as part of the repertoire of political violence to intimidate and punish opponents and women human rights defenders. In Myanmar, Colombia and Libya women, girls, men, boys and individuals of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity were subjected to sexual violence including in detention settings.
The report highlights trends in the wake of unconstitutional shifts in power, escalating militarization, and illicit arms proliferation. It looks at the complex array of battlefield actors, such as private military and security companies, which have complicated attribution and accountability. It also highlights political and security challenges, which have eroded rule of law institutions, creating a risk of “rule of lawlessness.”
Indeed, the central insight of this year’s report is the need to harness the preventive power of the rule of law. The positive impact of our sustained engagement is evident in a number of countries. In Guinea, in September 2022, I attended the historic opening of the trial related to events of 28 September 2009. This historic moment for survivors was the culmination of a decade of unrelenting advocacy and technical support by my Team of Experts to national judicial authorities.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, consistent efforts by military justice authorities in particular, have helped to stem the tide of mass rape, although sexual violence especially by the plethora of armed groups persists unabated. Several emblematic cases involving notorious warlords as well as military officers, have been prosecuted and convicted. On the legislative front, the Parliament adopted a law on protection and reparations for victims of conflict-related sexual violence and established a national reparations fund, with the personal commitment and leadership of the First Lady of the DRC being instrumental to these gains.
In terms of transitional justice, some momentum was also observed, in the Central African Republic with the delivery by the Special Criminal Court of its first verdict convicting a commander of an armed group for rape perpetrated by his subordinates.
In Colombia, the landmark report of the Truth Commission made specific recommendations to State institutions for transformative reparations for survivors. When I visited Colombia in May, I heard from survivors how important such acknowledgement and the guarantees of non-repetition are for their healing and recovery.
In terms of the way forward, the report recommends gender-responsive justice and security sector reform; strengthening holistic and multi-sectoral services for survivors; curtailing the flow of small arms and light weapons; and political and diplomatic engagements to address sexual violence in ceasefire and peace agreements.
The report also recommends providing predictable financial support to the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Multi-Partner Trust Fund for the work of the United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network and the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. Women’s Protection Advisers are also a linchpin of our institutional response architecture and their deployment, and reinforcement of teams, should be considered at critical inflection points, including during mission transitions and drawdowns.
Excellencies, Distinguished Members of the Security Council,
We must focus political resolve and resources in a global context of unremitting violence. Indeed, since the report before you was issued, serious allegations of conflict-related sexual violence have come to light. In the Sudan, since conflict broke out in April, the UN Human Rights Office has received credible reports of violations against over 50 women and girls. In a single attack as many as 20 women were reportedly raped. This week I received additional information of the targeting of medical infrastructure and staff providing support to victims of sexual violence, as well as an increase in abductions of women and girls. Both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan Armed Forces are listed by the Secretary-General, and I have communicated to General Mohammed Hamdan Hemedti and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan respectively, the measures that they are required to take by this Council.
It is evident that these tragic episodes form part of the long litany of battles fought on the bodies of women and girls, from Bosnia, to Rwanda, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
Today we know more than ever before about what motivates sexual violence; who the perpetrators are; and the service response required by survivors. We know that these crimes do not occur in a vacuum, but are tied to broader security dynamics. Therefore, it is essential to ground prevention efforts in this enhanced knowledge, which is at the heart of the Prevention Strategy that my Office launched in September 2022.
We must ensure implementation of Council resolutions while adapting our actions to today’s conflicts and emerging global challenges, including threats from the largely ungoverned digital space and climate-related insecurity.
The time is now to double down on the institutional and accountability frameworks put in place by successive resolutions. We must act urgently, and with sustained resolve, to save succeeding generations from this scourge.
Thank you.